Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab
PLAY Lab
The newly-founded Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab's aim is to understand how early sensory experiences shape our visual, cognitive, and language abilities later in life. We study how deaf and hearing children learn through visual sign language, with the goal of understanding human cognition and learning more broadly. We compare behaviors and abilities of deaf and hearing people -- across all ages -- who use signed or spoken language.
Meet Our Team
Our Founder/Director
Rain Bosworth
Dr. Rain Bosworth is an assistant professor in Department of Liberal Studies at RIT/NTID. She is an experimental psychologist, studying development of perception and language in deaf and hearing children using eye-tracking at the newly-founded Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab. She got her PhD from the University of California, San Diego, studying visual motion processing and attention in deaf adults. She is currently investigating gaze behavior in infants and children while they watch stories in American Sign Language (ASL). The broad aim is to understand how early sensory input shapes perception, cognition, and language processing.
Our Research Team
Karen Putz is the Communications Coordinator for the SPACE Center and PLAY Lab. Karen has a master’s degree in deaf rehabilitation counseling from Northern Illinois University. She is the founder and past President of Illinois Hands & Voices and A board member of New York Hands & Voices. She is also an adjunct instructor at RIT teaching a wellness course called “Finding your Passion.” Karen is the author of multiple books, including The Parenting Journey; Raising Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children, Unwrapping Your Passion, and The Passionate Lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People. For fun, Karen can be found water skiing on her bare feet.
Adrita Arefin is currently in her final year of her Masters Program in Human-Computer Interaction at RIT. She graduated with a BS in Computer Engineering from RIT, and shortly after, she worked for the Department of Defense in Philadelphia as a Computer Engineer in the Cybersecurity Department. After working there for some time, she realized that she was missing the “human touch” in her career, and thus decided to combine psychology with technology. Her research interest focuses on studying how young children who are exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) engage with and learn from digital bilingual ASL-English stories on smart tablets by observing their visual attention to ASL-English storybook apps through the use of eye-tracking technology. Adrita is a proud mother of her 3 year old daughter and her 1 year old son. This inspired her to learn more about how digital media and iPad technology impacts young children’s cognitive development.
Nicole Taboada is a graduate research assistant working in the NTID PLAY Lab. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UCLA in 2020 and is currently working toward a Master’s Degree in Experimental Psychology at RIT. Living and working in academia has only further developed her strong passion for advocacy, research, and deaf education. She hopes to see more Deaf researchers in the coming years and is eager to play her part in reaching that goal. Outside of academia, you can find Nicole playing Tetris on her Nintendo Switch or hanging out with her (5 year old) puppy, Teddy.
Michaela Kihntopf is the Lab Coordinator for the PLAY and PAW Lab. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2023 with a BS in Psychology and Neurobiology. She loves learning about how early-life experiences shape children’s development, and is excited to integrate her research interests and lived experiences as a Deaf researcher. Michaela is especially excited to work with children after studying mice for the past 3 years (yes, they do bite). In her free time Michaela can be found reading, cooking, or playing with her dogs. 
Finn Cohen is a full-time staff Research Assistant working in the NTID PLAY Lab. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated with his B.S. in Psychology from RIT in the spring of 2024. In his studies, Finn focused on the clinical and biological areas of psychology and was involved in research throughout his academic career. He is especially interested in working with youth. He is excited about conducting research with a diverse group of children, both hearing and d/Deaf, to help reduce the disparities these groups face. Outside of work, Finn spends his time playing board games, watching movies, and cuddling with his cat, Basal.Our Collaborators
Play Lab Alumni
| Name | Major | Terms Worked |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Despins | Biomedical Engineering and Exercise Science | Spring 2024 |
| Olivia Borkowski | ASL Interpreting | Summer 2023 |
Join Our Lab
We are recruiting postdocs, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates! Coming together from a wide variety of backgrounds, our team members are the backbone of PLAY Lab. Their ideas bring diverse ideas to help shape the direction and mission of our research. Read on to learn more about how you can get involved.
More information and how to apply
Open Positions
The NTID PLAY and RIT PAW Labs are hiring! Our labs focus on child development.
- Post-doc Research Scholar (full time; possible remote, must know ASL)
- Senior Research Assistant (full time; must)
- Research Laboratory Technician (part time)
- Student Research Assistants
- Student Communications Assistant
Positions open until filled.
Please complete job inquiry form here: https://redcap.link/applytospace
Questions? Email playlab@rit.edu
PhD Graduate Students
RIT’s Cognitive Science Ph.D. provides an interdisciplinary study of the human mind that combines insights from psychology, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, augmented reality, and philosophy. Inquire for more information.
NSF Research Traineeship
Graduate students from associated RIT Ph.D. and MS programs are invited to review information on how to apply and benefits for Trainees at our NSF Research Traineeship website. Women, Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing, and African American, Latino/a American, or Native American students are especially encouraged to apply. A video describing the program in ASL is available here.
Earn Pay or Course Credit as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Lab
Undergraduate students can receive pay or course credit working on research projects in the SPaCE Center. The Center is made up of several labs, including deaf x lab, NTID PLAY Lab, PAW Lab, and RITE Lab. This opportunity provides exposure to a variety of methods used in psychological research, including behavioral experiments (measuring response time and accuracy), eye tracking, EEG, and observational studies. This is ideal for NTID or RIT students majoring in psychology, cognitive science, language sciences, or computer science. Graduate students are also encouraged to apply using this form. Click here to complete an online form to apply.
News
'Brainy Day' spreads education on the deaf community through play
October 14, 2023
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s “Brainy Day” community event in Rochester highlighted the fun in learning for children and their families. The event not only showed children the support they have, but also the community they have.
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April 29, 2024
![Rain Bosworth smiling and looking at a parent-child pair to her left. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and wearing blue button-up shirt. The parent is looking at an iPad, sitting in front of them on a round table. The iPad is displaying what appears to be a video with a person signing. The parent has black hair and wearing a navy polka dot shirt. The child is sitting on the parent's lap and staring at Bosworth.]()
Rain Bosworth studies how deaf children experience the world
ScienceNews talks to Rain Bosworth, associate professor in the Department of Liberal Studies, about her research.
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August 7, 2023
![Two toddlers play with colorful plastic toys.]()
Deaf children’s learning during museum experiences is focus of research study
New research exploring how deaf and hearing preschool-aged children learn through interactive play with their parents is the focus of a partnership between RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and The Strong National Museum of Play.
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May 9, 2022
![mother and child reading a Sesame Street book.]()
New lab studies cognitive development in children
Rain Bosworth, an assistant professor and experimental psychologist at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, has created a new research lab that will help scientists learn more about cognition, language, and perception in infants and young children.
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November 1, 2024
Bosworth research on sign-language acquisition cited
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December 7, 2023
Bosworth presents on ableist sampling in psychology research
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August 17, 2022
NTID SPaCE Center researchers to present at conference
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August 4, 2022
Bosworth presents at gesture studies conference
Publications
Please also see my Google Scholar or ResearchGate profiles for PDFs.
Donations
The PLAY Lab is a critical resource in building a better understanding of how early sensory experiences shape our children’s visual, cognitive, and language abilities later in life. A major portion of our research focuses on the development and support of Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing children. While we are fortunate to have received support for our research, there is an ongoing need for general operating support of the Lab. Funding to maintain equipment, employ research assistants, support travel to conferences, and more, is critical in facilitating our work and in disseminating all that we will learn. If you are interested in supporting the PLAY Lab, please contact Bryan Hensel, NTID Office of External Affairs, at Bryan.Hensel@rit.edu or at (585) 475-6222. Thank you for your generosity.
